Easthaven

Round 1 Player Phase!

Round 1 Summary

With a spell from Vincent, Alalla and Ug take to the air. With the North’s chill wind on their faces and dawn’s warm rays on their backs they fly forward with great speed, followed by several of Kuldahar’s blood hunters. Below them, fire and blood and screams.

Though a wall of fire separates them, the barbarians of both sides fling javelins and spears through the flames (Badbarians take 169 piercing damage, good spearmen take 35). There are far more spears on the side of the heroes, but the barbed devils support the enemy with hurled infernal flames. These fiends, garbed only in hellish spikes, exude the stench of brimstone with every ball of fire they throw (good spearmen take 111 fire damge). Tansia curses as several spearman near her fall to the flames, but she cannot order the heavy-hitting berserkers forward until the wall of fire is dealt with.

A shadow rises from the ground before the enemy forces. Then it gets bigger. And bigger. The soul of a frost giant, trapped and harnessed by Vincent’s shadow magic, reaches down and drains the life from one of the barbarians.

Ras and Aerihykloarara cast a broad shadow on the ground as they take flight. The silver dragon’s maneuvering is less steady than normal, due to her injured wing, but she roars through the pain and lines Ras up nicely for his lightning bolt straight into the midst of the enemy barbarians (deals lots of damage to the group). A few spears are sent their way, but they barely scratch Aeri’s thick scales hide (Aeri takes 6 damage). With the humans below twitching from the electricity coursing through them, Aerihykloarar dips one wing and banks to the side, then dives to gain some momentum as she passes over the ranks of barbed devils, where she unleashes icy breath in a wide streak (lots of cold damage to the barbed devils, but they resist cold). Several devils succumb to the killing frost, but these are veterans of the Blood War, and toughened against even such devastating power as a dragon’s breath. When dragon and gnome finish their pass, most of the barbed devils rise to continue their flaming barrage.

As Alalla and Ug pass over the enormous hellfire golems, they watch carefully to see if their movement provokes any attacks from the deadly constructs. But the golems remain still, blank expressions focused on the battle at hand. The two erinyes, however, put their deadly bows to work. They pick their targets carefully, and several of their poisoned arrows find their mark (Vince takes 9 piercing and 22 poison and has the poisoned condition, Ras takes 12 piercing and is immune to the rest of the poison, Ug takes 11 piercing and 18 poison and has the poisoned condition).

Ug and his bloodhunters drop low when they reach the ruins of the Temple of Tempus, and they are greeted by a volley of boulders from the frost giants lurking among the rubble there (Ug takes 33 bludgeoning, brother 1 takes 32, and brother 2 takes 25). Joril Frostbeard himself, an imposing figure even for a giant, steps forward to meet the challenge. A brutal swing of the giant chieftain’s axe slams into the burly blood hunter in front, though Joril is forced to frown in puzzlement as the warrior staggers but does not drop (bouncer takes 31 slashing damage). The great giant lines up another blow, but Zenithral’s shadow arrow steals Joril’s sight. He blinks in frustration but cannot clear the blinding magic from his eyes (Joril is blinded beyond 5 feet for 1 round, so some attacks will have advantage against him). One of the other giants rumbles out a prayer, and a protective sphere envelopes Joril (One of the giants casts Shield of Faith on Joril, increasing his AC by 2).

In the air above the frost giants, Alalla soars in like an avenging angel to challenge Merodach. The pit fiend is a powerful, dangerous foe, but Alalla wields a weapon created to destroy just such a monster. Still, it is only when a shining arrow whistles in from afar to pierce the devil’s forearm that she manages to land one radiant blow, and nearly rips its fiery mace free from its grip… But then tragedy strikes as Vincent, the one holding her aloft with his magic, takes a thrown spear to the shoulder (Vince takes 11 damage and fails his con save to concentrate). In his shock he loses his concentration on the fly spell, and Alalla drops. Her fall is broken partway by a section of temple wall still standing, and then she bounces hard down into the rubble among giants and blood hunters (Al takes 12 bludgeoning damage).

The damage is done, however, and the cracked earth before the heroes’ army closes as Merodach reels from the searing light of two deities and loses concentration on its spell. The wall of fire dissipates. The pit fiend’s shout of rage carries over the battlefield, and then it calls on its infernal power to hurl a blossoming fireball into the midst of Tansia’s spearmen, consuming a full score of the warriors there in black and red flames (lots of damage to good spearmen). Only charred husks are left behind when the screams and fires die.

One of the blood hunters nearby, an older man, shakes his head at the steaming mess, for there is little he can do for those dead warriors. He turns instead to Vincent and lays a hand on the warlock’s shoulder, removing the eryinyes’ poison from his body (casts Lesser Restoration on Vince, who is now poison-free).

Two short figures peer out from behind some behind a grounded fishing boat. Jermsy's eyes are wide at the battle ahead, and with a grin whispers a spell and fades from view (Jermsy casts Invisiblity). Natalie does a double-take and then groans. She shakes her head, then seems to talk to her shoulder for a moment. She takes a deep breath and begins casting a spell of her own. Tendrils of green sprout from beneath the feet of the barbed devils, and plants break up through the trampled ice to seize the fiends' arms and legs (Natalie casts Entangle. The 3 barbed devils in group 1 are restrained and granting advantage). Spell completed, the young druid ducks down just before a poisoned arrow whistles over her head.

The two wolf-like blood hunters, literally unable to contain themselves with the wall of fire gone, surge forward alongside Tansia’s berserkers and spearmen, lightning crackling with every loping step.

There are a few of the berserkers who immediately turn back, however, allowing the others to pass on ahead. Before anyone can guess what they are up to, the three charge Tansia and surround the chieftess. Then Hjollsted steps out from their midst and stabs at her with his spear. She ducks away from the weapon just in time, but one of the other berserkers lands a cut across her back (Tansia takes 9 slashing damage). It would seem that the traitor has revealed himself.

Round 2 Player Phase!!